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GOP Sen. Thom Tillis’ surprise retirement announcement has shaken up not only North Carolina’s Senate race, but also the broader fight for the majority in the chamber heading into next year’s midterm elections.

Democrats face a difficult task of netting four seats to win the Senate majority. Aside from battleground North Carolina, the party’s top pickup opportunity is in Maine, where Sen. Susan Collins is the only Republican senator representing a state that former Vice President Kamala Harris won in 2024. But the five-term incumbent has proved difficult to unseat.

And beyond that, Democrats would need to win races in traditionally red states, in addition to holding a handful of swing-state seats.

But with Tillis now declining to seek a third term, Democrats are starting to see a clearer, if still uphill, path to the majority.

“If Democrats want to take back the Senate, it starts in North Carolina,” said Morgan Jackson, a veteran Democratic consultant in the state.

The Democratic fields in North Carolina and Maine are still taking shape, and decisions from potential contenders could come in the next few weeks after a new fundraising quarter kicked off on Tuesday. Candidates often launch campaigns early in a quarter in hopes of posting a big fundraising number right out of the gate.

In recent days, Republican Scott Brown launched a Senate bid in New Hampshire, while former Democratic Rep. Colin Allred announced he is running in Texas.

Tar Heel State shake-up

Tillis’ exit now means the Republican field in North Carolina is in flux, with all eyes on a potential contender with the same last name as President Donald Trump.

Trump told reporters Tuesday that his daughter-in-law Lara Trump “would always be my first choice” to run for Senate in North Carolina, her home state. Some Tar Heel State Republicans said potential candidates would likely defer to Lara Trump if she decides to run.

“The Trump lane is the path to victory. If your name’s Trump, you got a pretty good advantage,” said Republican strategist Jonathan Felts.

A former Republican National Committee co-chair, Lara Trump told Fox News Radio on Monday that she is considering a run, noting that she passed on running for Senate in North Carolina in 2022 and in Florida earlier this year.

“It is something that, if it works out and the timing works and it works for my family, it is absolutely something that I would consider doing,” she said.

Doug Heye, a former RNC spokesman and North Carolina native, said Lara Trump “has the right of first refusal.”

“If she wants the nomination, she’s in the driver’s seat,” Heye said. “If she doesn’t, this process could be wide open.”

Other potential candidates include current RNC Chairman Michael Whatley, the former chairman of the North Carolina GOP.

“It’s fair to say that he is open to it, but he is going to take direction from the president and the White House,” said one Senate GOP strategist, granted anonymity to speak candidly about private deliberations.

First-term Rep. Pat Harrigan, R-N.C., is also considered a potential candidate, though he posted on X that he would back Lara Trump if she runs. Rep. Greg Murphy, R-N.C., told reporters at the Capitol on Wednesday that he is also considering a Senate run, but he has been focused on passing the president’s sweeping domestic policy bill.

Rep. Richard Hudson, R-N.C., was considered a potential candidate, but he announced on Tuesday that he remains focused on leading the National Republican Congressional Committee.

On the Democratic side, former Democratic Rep. Wiley Nickel is in the race, but many members of the party are waiting to see if former Gov. Roy Cooper decides to jump in.

“Gov. Cooper continues to strongly consider a run for the Senate and he’ll decide in the coming weeks,” said Jackson, a Cooper adviser. Jackson said Tillis’ exit has not affected Cooper’s deliberations, noting Cooper’s decision “has always been based on a personal decision of what is the best way to serve the state and the people. And that calculation has not changed.”

Other key matchups take shape

The Democratic field is also still in flux in Maine. Collins’ spokespeople did not return a request for comment on her plans, but she told CNN in May, “It’s certainly my inclination to run and I’m preparing to do so,” adding that she has “not made a formal announcement because it’s too early for that.”

Jordan Wood, a Maine native who served as former California Rep. Katie Porter’s chief of staff, is in the race on the Democratic side. Maine state House Speaker Ryan Fecteau and former state Sen. Cathy Breen told the Portland Press Herald in May that they were considering runs. And Dan Kleban, co-founder of Maine Beer Company, told the Bangor Daily News that he is also weighing a run for Senate.

But Democrats are largely waiting on Gov. Janet Mills to make a decision on a Senate run. Mills, who cannot run for re-election due to term limits, has not closed the door on challenging Collins. But she told the Maine Trust for Local News in April, “I’m not planning to run for anything. Things change week to week, month to month, but at this moment I’m not planning to run for another office.”

Democratic Senatorial Campaign Chairwoman Kirsten Gillibrand, D-N.Y., told NBC News last month that she was confident her party would have formidable candidates in both Maine and North Carolina. She also did not rule out taking sides in primaries to boost the strongest candidate.

Republicans, meanwhile, are looking to expand their 53-47 majority by targeting Democratic-held seats in Georgia, Michigan and New Hampshire.

Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff is the only Democrat running for re-election in a state Trump won last year, since Michigan Sen. Gary Peters is retiring. And Republicans are bracing for a primary fight in the Peach State after Gov. Brian Kemp passed on running.

Rep. Buddy Carter, R-Ga., and state Insurance Commissioner John King are already in the race, and the field is expected to grow. Rep. Mike Collins, R-Ga., told NBC News on Wednesday that he is seriously considering a run and would make a decision “in the near future.”

Derek Dooley, a former football coach at the University of Tennessee with personal ties to Kemp, is seriously considering running and has met with key Georgia donors and Republican officials in Washington, D.C., according to a Georgia GOP strategist familiar with Dooley’s deliberations.

It remains to be seen whether Trump and Kemp will work to back the same candidate in the primary. Trump and Kemp met in mid-May, a source familiar with the meeting confirmed to NBC News. The meeting was first reported by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, which noted that Trump and Kemp did discuss the Senate race.

GOP leaders have already taken sides in the primary in Michigan, with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and National Republican Senatorial Committee Chairman Tim Scott, R-S.C., backing former GOP Rep. Mike Rogers, who lost a close Senate race last year. But Rogers could still face a primary, with Rep. Bill Huizenga considering a run.

Democrats will also have a contentious primary in the open-seat race, with Rep. Haley Stevens, state Sen. Mallory McMorrow, former state House Speaker Joe Tate and former Wayne County Health Director Abdul El-Sayed all running for the nomination.

But Democrats have coalesced around a candidate in New Hampshire, with Rep. Chris Pappas running to replace retiring Sen. Jeanne Shaheen. Brown, a former ambassador and former Massachusetts senator, may not be the only Republican candidate to jump into the race. State Sen. Dan Innis has also said he is considering a run.

“Mexico City is going through a transformation,” she said. “There are a lot of foreigners, namely Americans, coming to live here. Many say it’s xenophobia, but it’s not. It’s just that so many foreigners come here, rents are skyrocketing because of Airbnb. Rents are so high that some people can’t even pay anymore.”

The Mexico City protest follows others in European cities like Barcelona, Madrid, Paris and Rome against mass tourism.

WASHINGTON — One of three career federal prosecutors fired by Attorney General Pam Bondi last week has written a passionate goodbye to his colleagues, praising them for their willingness to “enter the arena” and encouraging them to not be timid amid ongoing threats to their work.

Andrew Floyd had been a leader in the Capitol Siege Section and stayed with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Columbia, now headed by interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro. In an email sent Thursday, he expressed pride in seeking justice for “despicable and illegal acts against our brothers and sisters in uniform” who were victimized during the Jan. 6, 2021, attack.

“They entered the arena and were assaulted. Later, they were re-victimized. Called crisis actors, vilified, threatened, and told that what they experienced did not happen,” Floyd wrote in the email seen by NBC News.

Floyd’s email cited a quote from a 1910 Theodore Roosevelt’s speech commonly known as “The Man in the Arena,” which he said senior federal prosecutors would send to assistant U.S. attorneys who lost a case. Officially titled “Citizenship in a Republic,” Roosevelt said it is “not the critic who counts,” but those who are “actually in the arena,” nothing that their place “shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.”

Receiving that message, Floyd wrote, “made new prosecutors feel seen as they toiled, for long hours and often unsuccessfully, on difficult cases while trying to uphold the rule of law in this city.”

“I lost a few trials and each time I received that email I was reminded why I went into court in the first place. It was not winning that mattered, but the fight for justice,” he wrote.

“My days of entering the arena with you are over. I also have no regrets,” Floyd wrote.

“I know from my communications with you over the years that the people in this building do not keep quiet and are not timid. You pursue justice. You enter the arena. Win or lose,” he wrote. “From now on, although I can no longer join you, I’ll be on the sidelines cheering you on.”

Floyd’s farewell message was the latest sign of strife within the Justice Department, as career federal law enforcement officials wonder how deep Trump’s appointees will go in targeting those involved in prosecuting his allies. In a speech at the Justice Department in March, Trump decried what he called the prior “weaponization” of the Justice Department while calling for the jailing of his perceived opponents.

Floyd’s departure is part of what current and former officials describe as a growing “brain drain” at the FBI and Justice Department, as seasoned public servants leave under mounting political pressure and fear of retaliation.

Another federal law enforcement official also wrote this week that he was targeted by bureau leadership because of his friendship with a former FBI employee. Michael Feinberg, who had been assistant special agent in charge of the FBI’s Norfolk Field Division national security and intelligence programs, wrote that he was given the option of being demoted or resigning.

In a resignation letter, he said that the FBI had “began to decay” and that he had to comport himself in a manner that would make his soon-to-be born son proud.

“I love my country and our Constitution with a fervor that mere language will not allow me to articulate, and it pains me that my profession will no longer entail being their servant,” Feinberg wrote. “It has been the honor of a lifetime to protect the American people and uphold the Constitution of the United States.”

Helicopters with hoists were used to rescue survivors, including people from trees, officials said. Adjutant General of Texas Major General Thomas Suelzer said that by Friday night 237 people had been rescued, 167 of whom were brought to safety by helicopter.

More than 400 people were on the ground responding to the disaster, Lieutenant Gov. Dan Patrick said.

The Department of Homeland Security said the U.S. Coast Guard and Federal Emergency Management Agency had been activated. Patrick said he had been in contact with President Donald Trump.

Trump called the floods “terrible” when asked by reporters about the situation Friday night on Air Force One, and he said the U.S. government will help.

“We’re working with the governor. It’s a terrible thing,” he said.

Helicopters Friday transported children from Camp Mystic to safety Friday, video from NBC affiliate WOAI of San Antonio showed.

Texas Game Wardens said on Facebook Friday evening: “Have made entry into Camp Mystic with vehicles and are beginning to bring campers out!”

Patrick said that even though around 20 children were unaccounted for, “that does not mean they’ve been lost.”

“They could be in a tree. They could be out of communication,” he said. “We’re praying for all of those missing to be found alive. We’re doing everything we can to get in there.”

Parts of Kerr County got a little more than 10 inches of rain over 24 hours, the National Weather Service said at 4 p.m. Friday. Farther north, Llano County got 8 1/2 inches over that period.

“We lost everything. A lot of people lost everything,” one survivor told WOAI in Kerrville. A local Walmart gave him a pair of shoes. “Nobody expected this,” he said.

Another man in Kerrville told the station that his brother’s house is missing after the flood — along with the brother, his wife and their two children.

Earlier in the day, Camp Mystic issued a statement telling parents: “If your daughter is not accounted for, you have been notified,” while indicating girls located in other parts of the camp had been found safe.

The officials said the nearby highway was washed away and that the area remained without power, water or internet and was “struggling” to get more help.

“Please continue to pray and send any help if you have contacts to do so,” the officials wrote.

The camp, about two hours west of Austin, is for girls between the ages of 7 and 17, and it was due to celebrate its 100th anniversary next year.

It’s located near the Guadalupe River, which authorities said surged as much as 22 feet in just half an hour Friday morning to a height of 30 feet in the nearby town of Comfort in Kerr County, breaking a record that had stood for decades.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, also issued a statement on X shortly after 4 p.m. ET.

“Please pray right now for everyone in the Hill Country, especially Camp Mystic,” he wrote. “Today, I’ve spoken with Gov Abbott, Lt. Gov Patrick, the head of TDEM & President Trump. Multiple helicopters are performing search & rescue. President Trump committed ANYTHING Texas needs.”

The force of the water in Ingram in Kerr County smashed the windows of homes and ripped off doors and paneling, video from WOAI showed.

Footage on social media showed an SUV swept away by raging floodwaters in Kerrville. The person who recorded it said the video was taken Friday morning.

The Guadalupe River had crested at Kerrville and Comfort by Friday evening, but other parts of the river downstream weren’t forecast to crest until Saturday morning.

The Guadalupe River near Spring Branch was forecast to crest at 37.2 feet, classified as moderate flood stage, around 2 a.m. Saturday, according to the National Weather Service.

NBC meteorologist Bill Karins said that the rain event “just sat here” in the area overnight into Friday morning in hilly terrain.

“It’s not like the mountains in the Rockies or in the Appalachians, but there are hills — and so that water will rush down the hills and collect in the smaller streams, and then it all combines, and all into the Guadalupe,” Karins said on NBC News Now.

Lina Hidalgo, the judge of Harris County, where Houston is, said five of the dead are from the Houston or Harris County area.

“All of Texas is impacted by this tragic event,” she wrote on X.

Flood warnings throughout the state remain in place through the weekend.

“There is an ongoing threat for possible flash flooding from San Antonio to Waco for the next 24 to 48 hours, in addition to the continued risks in west and central Texas,” Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick said in a statement.

Hopes for an end to the bloody fighting in Gaza appeared to brighten Friday when Hamas announced that it had given a thumbs-up to the latest ceasefire proposal, but added that further talks were needed.

“Hamas has completed its internal consultations with Palestinian factions and forces regarding the mediators’ latest proposal to halt the aggression against our people in Gaza,” the Palestinian militant group said in a statement.

“The movement has submitted a positive response to the mediators,” the statement added. “The movement is fully prepared to immediately enter into a round of negotiations on the mechanism for implementing this framework.”

The development came just days after President Donald Trump said Israel has “agreed to the necessary conditions” to finalize a 60-day ceasefire deal in the Israel-Hamas war.

But in his first remarks since Trump’s announcement on Tuesday, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not confirm Trump’s claim and once again called for the elimination of Hamas.

“There will be no Hamas,” Netanyahu said. “There will be no Hamastan. We are not going back to that. It is over. We will release all our hostages.”

Netanyahu is scheduled to visit to the White House on Monday, where he is expected to discuss the situation in Gaza with Trump.

Hamas has been weighing the new ceasefire proposals that it had received from the Egyptian and Qatari mediators for several days.

In a statement Wednesday, Hamas said it would be “conducting national consultations” with the final aim of ending the fighting, ensuring the withdrawal of Israeli forces and delivering “urgent relief” to the people of Gaza.

The war in Gaza erupted on Oct. 7, 2023, after Hamas launched a bloody surprise attack on Israel that left more than 1,200 people dead. Hamas also took 251 people hostage. And of the remaining hostages in captivity, 28 are presumed to be dead.

Meanwhile, Israel’s attacks in Gaza have killed more than 56,000 people and created a humanitarian crisis in the densely populated Palestinian territory, where most of the 2 million residents have been forced from their homes.

Human remains have been found at the site of a massive fireworks warehouse explosion that detonated in Northern California earlier this week, and where seven people remained unaccounted for, officials said Friday.

Yolo County in a statement did not say how many human remains were found at the site of the explosion near Esparto, northwest of Sacramento, which caught fire and blew up on Tuesday.

Relatives of the seven missing people have expressed frustration with not knowing the fates of their loved ones.

Fire officials have said that the area was still burning and there were explosives at the site that required caution before recovery, and asked for patience.

“At this time, no positive identifications have been made,” Yolo County said in a statement.

Once identifications are made, next of kin will be notified before the names are publicly released, it said.

The cause of the fire and explosion remains under investigation, officials said.

WASHINGTON — The Social Security Administration has sent a misleading email to beneficiaries stating that President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and spending law eliminates taxes on Social Security benefits for most recipients.

“The bill ensures that nearly 90% of Social Security beneficiaries will no longer pay federal income taxes on their benefits, providing meaningful and immediate relief to seniors who have spent a lifetime contributing to our nation’s economy,” said the email, which multiple beneficiaries shared with NBC News.

“The new law includes a provision that eliminates federal income taxes on Social Security benefits for most beneficiaries, providing relief to individuals and couples,” it said.

An identical note was posted to the SSA’s website on Thursday, the same day multiple beneficiaries told NBC News they received the email.

The emails came before Trump prepared to sign his massive tax cuts and spending package, what he’s called the “big, beautiful bill,” into law in a July Fourth ceremony at the White House.

The Trump domestic policy package, which Congress sent to his desk on Thursday, extends the president’s expiring tax cuts he enacted in 2017, and also creates a temporary tax deduction for earnings from tips and overtime.

But it does not eliminate federal taxes on Social Security. Budget reconciliation, the arcane process Senate Republicans used to pass the bill while avoiding a Democratic filibuster, does not allow changes to be made to Social Security.

The Trump package does, however, include a temporary tax deduction of up to $6,000 for seniors ages 65 and older, and $12,000 for married seniors. Trump’s Council of Economic Advisers argued last month that nearly 9 in 10 seniors would not pay any federal taxes on their Social Security benefits because the new deduction would eliminate their tax burden.

“Under the One Big Beautiful Bill, 51.4 million seniors — 88% of all seniors receiving Social Security income — will pay no tax on their Social Security,” the council wrote.

Trump, who promised during the 2024 campaign that he would kill taxes on Social Security, has been repeating the false claim the legislation does just that. He made the claim at a rally in Iowa on Thursday night and at Friday’s bill-signing ceremony.

“After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship economically,” Trump said at the White House ceremony, “and we’ve delivered no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, and no tax on Social Security for our great seniors.”

Representatives for both the White House and the SSA did not respond to requests for comment. Trump’s top political appointee at the SSA, Commissioner Frank Bisignano, said in the email that the new tax cuts represent a “historic step forward for America’s seniors.”

“For nearly 90 years, Social Security has been a cornerstone of economic security for older Americans. By significantly reducing the tax burden on benefits, this legislation reaffirms President Trump’s promise to protect Social Security and helps ensure that seniors can better enjoy the retirement they’ve earned,” Bisignano wrote in the email.

Former SSA officials and congressional Democrats said they were appalled by what they viewed as a highly political email being sent to Americans by a federal agency.

“This email went to every Social Security subscriber and every word of it is a lie. Social Security benefits are still taxed. This big, ugly bill doesn’t change that,” New Jersey Rep. Frank Pallone, the top Democrat on the Energy and Commerce Committee, wrote on X. “It’s disturbing to see Trump hijack a public institution to push blatant misinformation.”

Jeff Nesbit, a former top Social Security Administration official during the Biden administration, said the political emails were highly unusual, slamming them as “unbelievable” and “unconscionable.”

“I was deputy commissioner of the Social Security Administration. Appointed by President Biden. The agency has never issued such a blatant political statement,” Nesbit, who also served in the George H.W. Bush, George W. Bush and Barack Obama administrations, posted on X. “The fact that Trump and his minion running SSA has done this is unconscionable.”

More than 70 million retirees, survivors and people with disabilities receive Social Security benefits, according to the SSA.